The Marriage of Convenience
by tortugan.robin
Summary: What can I say? Read the story


**AN:- **Hello to all ! I am Hetta. For an explanation of why this story is here please read my profile. For an explanation of what this story is about read this. This is a story about the eldest daughter of the King and Queen of Pyren and how she escapes a loveless marriage to the King of Blaise thanks to the quick thinking of… ahem… people. Now onto the story!

**Disclaimer :** The story is mine. The characters are mine. The idea is mine. The plot is admittedly not entirely mine growls Nobody has a problem with that do they?

**Chapter 1**

Bella was a maid in the kitchens of the Castle Pyren, home to the monarchs of the Kingdom of Pyren. Rarely did she get such moments of freedom for Okco, commander of the Royal kitchens was a hard taskmaster. Today was her day off and she intended to make full use of it by updating her older sister Beth about the latest gossip from the castle. She smiled as she espied her sister waiting for her at their usual spot on the side of the River Reine

"Bella! I had nearly given up on you. So what have the terrible two done this time to set the castle a bustle?"

"Surprisingly, their royal highness, Crown Prince Christopher and Princess Evelyn have been very quiet this week. The Queen is worried they are planning something bigger than usual. Kept themselves locked up in the library this entire week those two have."

Bella put down the basket she had been carrying, sitting next to her sister under a rowan tree.

"It's almost as if those two are still children. Princess Evelyn is 18 and will have her coming out this year and yet she still plans the most dreadful tricks imaginable along with Prince Christopher. He should come about to the fact that he is the Crown Prince and at 25 should be more than aware of his responsibilities!" Bella nodded in agreement and handed her sister some food she had brought from the kitchen.

"But I thank the fates that Princess Evelyn is not like her sister, Princess Faye. Oh my, though that child is two years older than Princess Evelyn she behaves like she's 16 falling in love with a new face everyday and Prince Christopher has that horrid group of giggling ladies who chase him all the time." Beth wrinkled her nose in disgust but her face softened as she thought of another person.

"Now Princess Aria is a different matter. She is beautiful and graceful with the voice of a nightingale. I wish sometimes, mind you only sometimes, that she had been born at least 3 years earlier then she would have been Crown Princess instead of Crown Prince Christopher"

Bella laughed at the thought. "I think it's the better the way it is. Princess Aria is sweet and nice but wouldn't be able to run a country. She is far too quiet for that. She's much better at pouring water over Prince Christopher and Princess Evelyn's plans." Bella and Beth both laughed as they recalled the pranks the troublesome two had pulled.

"I heard the king of Blaise will come to Pyren to offer for the hand of Princess Aria. Looks like Blaise will no longer find itself queen-less that is if Princess Aria accepts"

Beth looked shocked and spoke up, "But I thought Princess Aria loved Sir Harper the knight."

Bella frowned and said, "Oh she does but don't you understand? King Alexander of Blaise is a powerful man. He would take it as an insult if she did not accept. So she has to whether she wishes to or not to prevent a war of epic proportions which could destroy Pyren"

Bella and Beth fell silent thinking about these sad words.

!#$&()

There is a library in Castle Pyren which is open to everyone regardless of their station in life. Tis a huge library filled with all sorts of books. There is book there for everyone no matter what their interests be. But this was not the library that Bella had been talking about. There were small alcoves in between the back shelves. Each had an item in it. One had a sculpture of a woman. One was a brilliant Impressionist painting of a sunrise. Another had a huge tapestry depicting Pyren and its surrounding lands.

But in one alcove on the side there was a long mirror with beautiful silver edging. It was so captivating that it was capable of making the onlooker so entranced by their own reflection that unless they were aware of the spell they would remain there forever. The sprites had gifted it to Pyren as a sign of their allegiance. Hence, everybody stayed well away from it and so failed to realize that the alcove actually opened into a corridor, which led to a huge oaken door. Past this door was the private library of the Royal family.

Normally laughter could be heard in this room. Or quiet sniggering as Evelyn or Christopher went about plotting. Or the quiet rustle of pages being turned. It was a place where happy memories were made.

Twas a warm place with an adorable little fireplace in the corner. On top of the mantelpiece was a portrait of the Royal family. The shelves were full of the book and since their father refused to put in more shelves every time Evelyn or Aria brought another book there were books all over the place. There were books piled on the mantelpiece, stuffed in the shelves so they overflowed covering practically every available surface. Two huge bay windows let sunlight into the room. It was a happy room seemingly unaffected by sadness.

But today was different. Today there was a new sound a sound which had not been heard there in a long time. The sound of tears falling as Aria tried to explain to her Edward why this might be the last time they would see each other. They did not notice two pair of eyes glinting in the corner, one pair bright with unshed tears another with anger

!#$&()

Aria remained in the room long after Edward was gone trying to recover her composure. She sat in the bay window seat, the sunlight illuminating her golden curls. One teardrop dripped of the end o of her small nose. Her mouth formed a sweet 'o' of surprise when she realized there was someone else in the room. She raised a pair of limpid blue eyes made even more limpid by her tears to the newcomer. Turned out it was Christopher and Evelyn or as the family called them Chris and Eve.

She eyed them suspiciously, "You were here the whole time weren't you? And don't pretend you weren't Eve. Why did you listen you know it would just make you feel even more awful? Come here and do stop crying. You'll start me off all over again."

Eve wrapped her arms around her oldest sister and buried her face in her golden curls to hide her tears. She wished for once that she had left her hair open so it could hide the tears that refused to stop. Chris rubbed the back of his neck, feeling very uncomfortable. "Aria. Don't worry. Eve and I will get you out of this fix. We've been in worse fixes and we'll be sure to get you out of this one."

Eve sat up and stared at her brother, "Really Kester? You think we've been in worse fixes. Lache! Tell me what can be worse then to know you have to reject the man you love to save your kingdom by marrying the king of another kingdom who is known throughout the world as the most coldhearted man to walk this land?" Kester raised up his hands as if admitting defeat, "When you put it like that, yes, it definitely sounds very bad. Incidentally, what does lache mean? Is it Elven?" Eve stood up and whacked her brother on his head, "Lache means fool and it's not Elven. It's Francaise. Besides this is hardly the time to be learning a new language." The huge oaken door swung open and all three heads turned to see who the newcomer was.

"Oh look Faye's come. Now the three of you sit and cry in peace whilst I go and practice dueling. Eve, if you think you can stop crying you can come with me."

Faye joined her two sisters in the bay window seat. Faye looked a lot like Aria but her curls owed their existence to hot irons and her eyes were not as deep a blue as her sisters. Evelyn sat back a little and watched her two sisters greet each other affectionately though they did not dissolve into tears like Chris thought they would.

She turned a little to see her brother Chris or Kester as she affectionately called him walking out of the library. She hurriedly got up and after excusing herself ran after her brother. Kester looked straight ahead but smiled slightly as Eve caught up with him. He could be very charming when he wanted to be and it was his smile that had half the girls of Pyren after him. He looked like a more masculine version of Aria with short straight hair and broad shoulders.

Evelyn hated looking at her brother and sisters sometimes. She stuck out like a sore thumb. She had thick dark brown hair which refused to curl and skin that tanned easily unlike hers sisters milky white complexion. Her grey blue eyes were the only thing remotely similar to her siblings though they were not a clear blue like theirs. Shaking her head free of negative thoughts she looked at Kester.

"Kester, how about a one on one match? It's been ages since I've dueled with you. Master Theo only lets me duel with him now."

Kester grimaced, "You know why he doesn't let you duel with any of us now. ' Her high-neess duels soooo vell that tis now an inzult to make her duel wit as-inine, in-compaytent fools like jou'" he said in perfect imitation of their dueling master.

Eve laughed and said, " That and also I'm the only one among you lot who can speak to him in his native language.I don't care. Master Theo will let me. Besides you've been getting better. I watched you the other day. Your footwork is coming along nicely."

Kester mock bowed, "I thank thee fair lady for thy kind words which have set this poor heart of mine a-fluttering" Inwardly Kester basked in his sisters compliments. She was in Master Theo's words 'Zee best svordsperzon der eever vas'. And so they continued in this way all the way to the dueling house, laughing and joking, attempting to forget what had transpired in the library.

!#$&

The most notorious rake in the land tried to convince his best friend that he was not pulling his leg. In other words King Alexander of Blaise tried to convince his valet Owen that he indeed intended to marry the eldest daughter of the King and Queen of Pyren.

All of a sudden, Owen straightened up and sat properly in his seat. The rocking of the carriage made this harder then it would have been otherwise. Owen looked up at his oldest friend, "Are you sure about this Alex? You've never even met the girl. I thought ….."

Alex was slightly miffed at his friends reactions, "You thought what? That I would marry for love? Hardly. This is to just silence my fool of a sister and all those old fogy's at court. Hopefully it'll stop every available maiden from throwing herself at me once she reaches marriageable age." He turned to look out the window determined to ignore his incorrigible valet. Really it just reflected how pathetic his life had become that his closest in fact only true friend was his valet. He felt even more pathetic hen he remembered how he had himself into this situation. Damn sisters and their meddling ways and damn his impetuosity!

Owen sighed realizing that Alex was about to descend into one of his black moods. It was pity that he was such a moody standoffish character. Nobody was able to see past the exterior. Not that the ladies seemed to mind. In fact it seemed to intrigue them more convincing themselves that they were the ones who would reform this rake and turn him into a warm lovable human being. This attitude just made Alex even more cold.

Alex fully intended to give Owen the cold shoulder till they reached Castle Pyren. They were now about half a day riding from Castle Pyren. He sighed thinking about what he was about to do. Again he cursed his sister recalling exactly she had forced him into this tight corner.

_Leia stared at her older brother coldly. Though there was only a year's gap between them, they were not close as siblings are wont to be. "To think it should come to this. A wanton wench from a bar. Honestly Alex, what were you thinking? No wonder Father said you were not fit for the crown._

"_For the last time Leia. I did not propose to the girl. I told her that I would marry anybody to keep the ladies of the court away from me. She assumed I meant I would marry her."_

"_As if I'll believe that pathetic lie. Everybody knows you like having all those ladies fawning over you. If you did not like them, you would have married ages ago to keep them away. Truth is Alex you were drunk. You would not marry anybody. You are afraid"_

_Alex eyes blazed but his voice was steady when he spoke, "Leia you should thank the fates you're my sister otherwise I would have banished you from my kingdom this instant. I am not afraid; in fact I've been contemplating marrying the Princess of Pyren for some time now."_

_This took the wind out of Princess Leia's sails. She narrowed her eyes at her brother," I'll believe that when I see you walk down the aisle with a bride on your arm." With a whirl of her skirts she left the room._

He did not usually feel nervous but right now, he could not help feeling slightly on the edge. He felt a small amount of trepidation. Owen was right; he had never met Princess Aria. He only knew that she was sweet, beautiful and had the voice of an angel and this was only heresy. Considering he was thinking about marrying this woman it was rather pitiable that this was all he knew about her. There was no need to worry about. After all, he would have a whole lifetime to get to know her very well.

!#$&

Eve sat down on the carpet in front of the fireplace still in her dueling regalia. Her white peasant blouse was damp with sweat. Her mother, Queen Elizabeth, would laugh if she saw her in this getup. Her father would look at her breeches and then ask her where the book she had been reading was. Her brother wouldn't care and instead beg her to duel again so he could win at least once. Aria would admonish her gently and tell her to go and change into something more feminine. Faye wouldn't say anything because she would have fainted.

The dueling session had cleared up her head freeing it of many conflicting thoughts. Also it was such an ego booster being able to beat men twice her height and stronger than her. But as Master Theo said, "Zis dueling iz nod bout ze strength zits bout se mind." That was precisely what she was trying to use right to help Aria out of her 'fix' as Kester put it.

. She stared into the flickering flames as if willing them to give her an idea. Suddenly the fire went out making her blink in surprise. She looked around for the source of the draft that must have put out the flame. But none of the doors was open and she had closed the windows when she had entered the library. She retreated to her favorite chair near one of the windows slightly spooked out by it. She muttered an old Elven charm to calm her nerves.

Her mind returned to the matter it had been considering slowly approaching it from every angle like her father told her to do every time she was stumped. She looked out the windows. She followed the course of the River Reine with her eyes. It wound its way through the land of Blaise between the hills separating Blaise from Pyren and finally flowed into the sea.

Blaise was situated by the sea and was famous for all the exotic items that went through its ports. Eve had been there only once when she had been learning the language of Blaise. The smell of the place was like the language. Sharp but had a lingering aftertaste which made the tongue tingle. Blaisean was not a language she used often but it was not one she could forget. While she was there she had been far more interested in the land than in its ruler. She wished knew more about him than what she had read in books and heard.

Suddenly she got up, seized by an idea. She wrote a quick note to Kester explaining where she was going and flung it on his desk. She slipped on a habit that hung behind one of the bookshelves. Soon the Princess Evelyn was just a small dot astride her horse Khasin vanishing into the horizon in the direction of Blaise.


End file.
